, 1887-09-22

think people here are stupid enough
20 refrain from showing up his wild
assertions?
The further affirmation is that the
board of trade agent told conference
that These lands, or nearly all of
them, are Port Townsend real estate,
or such as will soon become city
property" What that agent did say
was that the greater part of the rdtne
of the land bonus would be in prop
erty in or near Port Townsend. That
statement was absolutely borne out
by tho facts While. the greater part
of the area OF these lands are out
lying, the value center5 in and near
Port Townsend. Indeed, there is
enough of it on Quimper peninsula
to make an endowment of 100000 IN
very few years Speaking of the
outside lands, Mr.. LeSourd. says:
But if they we're worth all they are
estimated at, the conference could
not accept them without cheating
itself out of the real element of value
IN the proposed bonus, namely SAC, 600
worth of Port Townsend real estate"
Again We reiterate that there was no
agreement to contribute $4,000 worth
OF Port Townsend real estate" Any
statement that these lands were to be
all city property is simply falsifying
the record. But listen still further:
Another fact, often overlooked, is
this. The agent of the Port Town,
send board of trade represented the
proposed bonus as ripe plum, ready
to fall and We were urged to catch it,"
That figure of speech was used, and
if conference had not accepted the
offer another denomination would
have caught the plum ere this.
Again: Conference, on the sug-
gestion of said agent, fixed the time
for raising the bonus at ninety days"
Nothing of the kind. That has been
fully explained, but the blindest of
all blind people-those who won't
see-evidently include AIr. LeSourd.
And again: "When over six months
had passed, the trustees voted that in
their Judgment the people of Por.
Townsend ought to have an extension
of time for raising the bonus. not ex-
tending beyond June 1st. This was
all that was asked" Another mis-
representation. Who asked further
time?" Not Port Townsend people.
The bonus was rendered by them at
that time. Still further: 'But the
time element might have been elm
mated from the discussion had the
campus and other lands been those
we bargained for, and had the cash
subscriptions been the equivalent of
$4,000 cash in hand, instead of
promises to pay one, two, three. four
and five years hence. And let me
say that no guarantee offered by the
citizens of Port Townsend. or of
other places, ever proposed to remedy
these fatal defects in the proposed
bonus" Another bald misrepresen-
tation. The cash subscriptions foot
ed up q surplus, after having been
discounted to present cash value
and the guarantee did offer to do OK
aetly what our falt finder says it did
not. But listen: "But it is said the
conference was Influenced by an offer
| from Tacoma. That charge is con-
tradicted by facts. The Tacoma
proposition was never entertained by
the conference If we had been in
fuenced in our vote on the Port
Townsend bonus, surely we would
have hastened to take up Tacoma's.
Not so, no voice was raised on the
conference floor to take up the offer
from the terminal city. On the
other hand the whole question is left
open for competition" All, there's
the rub. Tacoma's offer was handed
in-but after the conference heard q
few blasts from the newspapers and
other exponents OF public opinion it
was thought that to locate at Tacoma
would be "a dead give away" on the
whole business. In other words, they
had to call halt to preserve even a
vestige of decency. When they get
ready to locate at Tacoma they may
lack the votes to do so.
We have thus gone over MIR. LIE
Sourd's tiresome tissue of misrepre-
sentations, miscalled argument" ,"
with what patience we could com
mand. He has not told all the hiss
tory of the case. He carefully avoids
saying that he was appointed chair
man of the conference committee to
investigate as to the value of these
lands, but failed to do SO: taht his
excuse was that he had not time"-
although the conference year was Is
months, allowing him four full weeks
beyond the time necessarily covered
by his district work. He fails to say
that when | g found the other two
mem' er' OF the committee had iuves-
tigated and declared the bonus raised
he tried to appoint tIGo men to repre-
sent him, with view OF Joining his
adverse report with theirs and thus
transform himself by little sharp
practice from Il minority to major
| ity of the committee.
An eastern Washington paper pub
lished at Goldehdale. makes the fol-
lowing astounding declaration: "The
Democratic party has always fought
| for the principle of our homestead